Here is another board game that the 25th Century is planning to release this summer. Cloud Control board game – a fun party, family game that is about forming clouds into objects & shapes, that other players guess until the time runs out.
The game is designed by Eugene Bryant, and the project early sightings are as early as 2017. Cloud Control has collected an initial of 6 thousand Euros pledge on indiegogo.com. Currently, the Cloud Control board game is scheduled for the approximate retail release of August 2020. So far there is no exact date available.
Please note that I am not associated or affiliated with the publishers of the board game. This article reflects my honest opinion & impressions about the upcoming board game.
Cloud control game overview
It seems you gonna need to prepare for a rather entertaining gaming experience. Different parts of the game remind me of Alias & Charades. Except you cannot talk (kind of the opposite to the Alias), but you draw word cards, and during 90 seconds interval you must construct cloud shapes so that others could guess the word(s) based on the object(s) you construct. And you cannot use your body language as well, only animate the shapes you construct.
For example, if your word is “run”, you can construct a cat figure, and indicate the leg movement by constantly rotating leg cards left to right and mimicking weird faces.
Image credit: 25th Century Games
Players construct as many shapes as you make it during 90 seconds interval. Both players score victory points based on the correctly guessed words. After one player turn, the cloud shapes are returned to the tabletop for the next player to start his turn.
Moving forward, the game is adopted for a wide interval of player count, including the team mode when there is a higher count of players. In such a mode, different team representatives try to construct the same shapes and allow for players to compete which team guesses the correct word the first.
Furthermore, there are “lightning” rounds. Such round begins after each player has constructed their cloud shapes once, the lightning round makes everyone to build different shapes (based on the word chosen from the card) at the same time. After 90 seconds pass, players have another 90 seconds to discuss, take a look at each player’s shapes & words, and vote for the best shape constructed.
The game ends after 3 rounds: 1 normal round, 1 lightning round, and again 1 normal round played. The shapes that players guess reward Victory Points to both players (the player who constructed, and the player who correctly guess the word).
Image credit: 25th Century Games
My first thoughts about how good is Cloud Control
So my first impression is that it is going to be a very interactive & entertaining game. Time pressure, 16 different shape pieces, communication limitations, and other players shouting funny phrases trying to guess the shapes you construct. Noise & action all around you. Lots of intensity and giggles. That’s my preliminary vision about the gameplay.
On top of that, the game offers very easy rules, a fun thematic feel that will appeal not only to adults and families but also to children. I do not think that this is oriented towards advanced, more complex games favoring players, but I honestly think that these players will be surprised as well. Much like in Codenames, the rules are super simple, but guessing & giving clues to other players will likely be more difficult than you think.
High potential replay value
Just looking at the number of components, there are 300 word-cards, and 5 words per card. Given the fact that there is one and a half thousand words variability, this game will be replayed by players a lot. Not to mention the overall flexibility of construction patter & players’ thinking differences. Each and every individual will probably gonna construct the same objects in unique patterns based on their imagination.
I am not sure if the game will be popular. But if yes, then I would assume the expansions to pop really fast, as it is very expandable. Adding more word cards and/or cloud figures will dramatically increase the replay value of the game, and there would be no need to drastically change any rules & game mechanics.
Image credit: 25th Century Games
Creative art & colorblindness adoption.
I really love seeing those cards to be somewhere in between casual geometric figures & creative, pictures that have a minimalistic, yet dreamy design, giving it some similarity to Dixit & Mysterium.
Without any doubt that the game will perfectly fit colorblind players, as the cards are colored the same.
To sum up, your tabletop will look much like something in between Codenames & Dixit, but the gameplay will feel something in between the Alias, Charades & other puzzle games.
Budget price
To finalize, everything you have read should come for a budget price. Which I am very glad to see. You can check the current pre-order price at the “Where to pre-order section” or at the links down below:
Where to pre-order Cloud Control board game
Here are the following stores/websites that I stumbled upon that have offer pre-orders for the Cloud-Control board game.